Blair may be summoned to explain secret Sinn Fein deal to MPs

Tony Blair may face a formal parliamentary order compelling him to appear in front of a House of Commons select committee to answer questions about secret deals he made with Sinn Fein, ensuring that suspected IRA fugitives were no longer wanted by police. As suspected terrorists were on the run, they did not fall under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which allowed those in jail for similar crimes released early.

The Northern Ireland Select Committee are currently investigating the affair, and although he has been asked, Blair has yet to appear for questions – citing a busy diary.

The Sunday Telegraph report that the committee are investigating evidence they have been handed about a deal struck with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. According to the paper, this evidence includes:

– Mr Blair gave personal assurances to Mr Adams as long ago as November 1999 that the “anomaly” of so-called “on the runs” continuing to face prosecution while jailed terrorists were released would be “sorted”, according to Mr Fittall’s report. Ministers told Parliament when the Downey case collapsed in February that the scheme “was in operation from around September 2000”;

– There was a significant effort in Whitehall to maintain secrecy over the scheme while the cases were being considered. Senior civil servants noted that it was “remarkable” that ministers had been able to “say so little” in public about the deal, Mr Fittall said;

– The Blair government overruled the concerns of prosecutors in Northern Ireland that such a scheme was “fraught with difficulty” and would “damage” the administration of justice, and ordered work on reviewing the files of terrorist suspects to begin. The director of public prosecutions in Northern Ireland has submitted new evidence disclosing that the row was recorded in a “secret” minute of talks in November 1999;

- In December 2006, Mr Blair promised Sinn Fein he would “expedite” the process so that all the fugitives’ cases would be completed before he left office in June 2007. This assurance, contained in a private letter to Mr Adams, came despite previous warnings from officials that the government must not “cut corners” in reviewing the evidence against suspects and that prosecutors were struggling to cope with the large caseload.